Germany has banned farmers in one of its federal states from properly fertilizing large swathes of land at the behest of the EU’s green agenda.
As of Thursday, the use of nitrate fertilizers has been greatly restricted for large swathes of farmland in North Rhine-Westphalia, with the green agenda change greatly angering farmers as it is likely to drastically reduce yields.
While implemented by authorities in Germany, the ban is ultimately at the behest of the European Union, which is pushing to reduce the amount of nitrogen in certain parts of Europe as part of its green agenda. [emphasis, links added]
The policy has already wreaked havoc in the Netherlands, with the Dutch government now looking to either buy out or forcibly close up to 3,000 farms to meet targets set by Brussels.
Despite the impact this could have on food security in Europe, the push appears to have firmly extended itself into Germany, with Bild reporting that farmers will now be forced to use 20 percent less fertilizer in any area deemed to have problematic levels of the chemical.
Overall, the publication claims that a third of the total usable farmland in North Rhine-Westphalia — Germany’s most populous state — falls under this new restriction.
“If a wheat field needs 200 kilos of fertilizer for optimal yield, farmers would now be forced to use 40 kilos less,” one local farmer, Erich Gussen, explained. “That means a drop in yield and the quality of the wheat will suffer!”
Gussen noted that there is “great indignation” amongst farmers in the state, many of whom will see their bottom lines severely suffer at a time when fertilizer and fuel prices are already at major highs.
With the European Union reportedly threatening to fine Germany if it does not act to reduce nitrogen levels, other federal states in the country will also soon be forced to act to reduce farmers’ fertilizer usage.
Such a move could detrimentally affect the country’s food production at a time when food insecurity is growing worldwide as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has seen the global supply of wheat and other grains contract.
Despite this, the EU appears to be pushing ahead with its great reset goals, with the Dutch government now threatening to shutter up to 3,000 farms in their country in service of their overlords in Brussels.
Farmers in the member state have been actively resisting the measures with countless protests that have seen motorways blockaded and events disrupted, though such demonstrations have so far been unable to curb the government’s enthusiasm for closures.
“What this shows you is that the will of the people means nothing to our government,” political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek told Breitbart. “Despite all of the protest and (inter)national backlash, they’re pushing through with what I think are criminal policies.”
“Our government doesn’t cater to the wishes of its own citizens, it caters to globalist institutions whose interest it is to control the food supply, so they can control us,” she continued. “It’s the great reset in full force.”
Read more at Breitbart
Good to see no lessons were learnt from Sri Lanka doing a very similar thing…
The inmates have taken over the asylum. By whose definition is this in any way “green”? Soil fertility replaces the nutrients removed from the soil when we feed the world. That, in any rational understanding, is the definition of green. Reducing proper soil fertility is foolish, and the exact opposite of green. Using N fertilizers that don’t migrate would be far more rational.
I think Peter means N20, nitrous oxide not N2 which is nitrogen, 78% of the atmosphere. The loons will probably start trying to somehow stop that also.
Don’t worry as item #1 on a shopping list is bread. When the price of that goes through the roof then the EU horse’s asses will get thrown out of government.
This could end up leading to Famine or worst all over a totally fake crisis and the new age pagan false relegion of Enviromentalism worship of the Creation instead of the Creator
Form the very beginning of the global warming movement the goal was to by pass democracy and implement the policies with top down mandates. With policies being set in Brussels that would never be supported by a popular vote, that is exactly what is happening.
A little more precision in language would be helpful. Nitrogen makes up 78% of our air. Clearly not harmful in any way. Farms use nitrogen to boost plant growth – usually applied in the form of ammonium nitrate NH4NO3. They do not waste this valuable resource unthinkingly, but some nitrate may leach into water courses. This is a stimulus to growth but can result in eutrophication, i.e. algal blooms. In the UK we have nitrate sensitive areas, where applications are limited. Use of farm manure can also give rise to pollution – ammonia in the air is the one air pollutant that has not hugely decreased over the last 50 years. Hence the move to limit the spread of slurry and FYM to periods of the year when it is useful and will not runoff. The EU has taken a bold approach, but some governments seem determined to inflict harm on their farming sector e.g. Holland. A little more rational discussion would be helpful. For what it’s worth my PhD research centered on this problem some 50 years ago.
Thanks, Dr. Ken. Fertilizer is an expense and we don’t waste it. On my most recent crop of corn, I cut back, did not broadcast urea pre – plant. Nitrogen application was timed to crop needs, and total “N” was reduced by 30% from 2021. The crop ran out of N in late September, and my yield fell 10% yoy. I now have some data to work with, but every year is different. In 2023, I won’t cut it so close.
By far the most effective way to control fixed nitrogen pollution without impacting crop yield is to tune the application of fertilizers to what the crops will use. Another method has been used in some areas. This is to place plants in the run off path to adsorb the fixed nitrogen.
There is one other point. One of the many agendas hitchhiking on the climate change movement appears to be inflicting harm on farmers. No where was such an agenda more apparent than in Klamath Falls, Oregon. There, during a drought, many farmers had their irritation water totally cut off. The given reason was to keep the lake at a certain level to protect an insignificant bottom feeding fish. This fish has survived countless droughts in the past with no special effort to protect it. Many, many farmers went bankrupted.
This brings to mind Deep Ecology and the Wildlands Project